Vermont Installs Wind Based Hydrogen Station for Automobiles.

[NNadir]

This article comes from the news section of the January 15, 2007 edition of the scientifc journal Envirno. Sci. Tech, pg 356. http://pubs.acs.org/journals/esthag/index.html (Subscription may be required.)

In case you were worrying about global climate change, the problem has been solved. Stop worrying. A hydrogen station using hydrogen generated from wind power has been installed in Vermont.

It's all over folks. Someone call Al Gore.

In late October, a fueling station in Burlington, Vt., began producing transportation-grade hydrogen from water and wind energy. It is the nation’s first hydrogen station
to use this renewable scheme, according to the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratories.

The station was built by eVermont, a nonprofit research and development organization, with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. The goal is to demonstrate how hydrogen can be reliably generated using decentralized, renewable resources with no carbon emissions in a cold, hilly,
rural environment, says Harold Garabedian, the project’s technical liaison and the assistant director of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources air quality department. The station produces hydrogen by splitting water apart with an advanced electrolysis system from Proton Energy Systems. The electrolysis system is powered by proton- exchange membrane fuel cells, the same kind of fuel cells that can be used to propel cars. The system for storing and dispensing the
hydrogen fuel was produced by Air Products, and the gas is compressed to 6000 pounds per square
inch (psi) for storage. Although this is off-the-shelf equipment,dian says that coaxing it to work
together proved more challenging than expected. To get the system operational, his team had to fix a
lot of leaks, because hydrogen is so “slippery—it takes extra care to ensure that you have really good, tight joints.”

The station produces 12 kilograms of hydrogen fuel per day (the equivalent of 12 gallons of
gasoline), but it can be scaled up easily, Garabedian says. Although
it is not directly connected to the nearby 65-kilowatt wind turbine operated by the Burlington Electric Department, the hydrogen station receives renewable-energy credits from the utility, which is a partner in the project.

Well actually it's not connected to the wind mill, but it could be.

And, of course, it only produces the equivalent of 12 gallons of gasoline, but it could be scaled up.

And the fact that if there were two cars fueled by hydrogen, the "station" would run out of fuel is not relevant.

Thank goodness too that they were able to fix all of the leaks before blowing themselves up.

The thing is that it "could" work, and therefore anyone who is concerned with climate change is clearly out of line. Climate change is solved. Someone has said "hydrogen," "station," "wind," and "car," all in the same sentence. One hopes they will build a hydrogen station for a second car in another Northeastern state, Maine maybe.

:banghead: :eyes:

[roamer65]

1. ..or I bet the process could be powered by photovoltaic arrays, too.

Cleanly generated electricity is the answer.

[NNadir]

2. I'll bet my life - and my kids lives - on it.

[Kolesar]

3. "Efficiency Vermont" has had a huge impact on reducing energy use in the state

They actively survey housing and businesses and finance energy efficiency improvements. http://www.efficiencyvermont.com/pages/

[NNadir]

4. Vermont has the lowest per capita electricity related carbon dioxide emission

level in the nation.

They burn no coal, almost no natural gas and almost no oil to generate electricity in Vermont.

[Porcupine]

5. It's a Hydrogen Hummer of an idea. nt.

.

[NNadir]

6. Actually if you look at the picture in the article, it's a hydrogen Prius.

This isn't California. I don't think that you get elected in Vermont for saying "hydrogen."

Of course I don't really know about that. Maybe you do get elected for saying "hydrogen." Certainly you can get grant money in Vermont by saying "hydrogen," hence the station. But I don't think the station was built for the Governor's private use.

Whatever. Vermont, so far as it's generation of electricity goes, is kind of my idea of nirvana, but other than knowing (and loving) Howard Dean, I know very little about the political climate up there.